It's been almost four years since the Ignacio Bobcats lost a San Juan Basin League game.

Ignacio has been and still is the class of the SJBL.

But Dolores closed the gap Tuesday night.

The visiting Bobcats jumped out to 11-3 lead early, as expected.

However, perhaps unexpectedly, Dolores fought back.

Behind Cody Carroll, Tyler Weir and Austin Blackmer, the Bears closed the first quarter on a 11-2 run to lead 14-13 after one.

The Bears sent a message early that it was going to be a fight.

In the end, Ignacio, being the championship team it is, took punches and countered when it needed to. The Bobcats went onto to win 69-55.

"This is the year we stepped up. We held them. We're improving every year," said Bears sophomore guard, Hayden Plewe. "If we keep hustling our butts off, we can win this year."

Dolores made a statement that it is no longer a pushover and that it's a contender.

"Five or six years ago, it was 80 points," said Bears coach Larry Schwartz about the margin Dolores had lost to Ignacio by in the past. "I think we closed the gap. The kids are starting to believe that they can hang with good teams and start to beat them. That showed tonight."